How to Rock at Customer Service
I just had a really amazing customer service experience that contained a really awesome lesson for us small business owners. I had recently bought a few T-shirts from CafePress.com. Overall the shirts were okay but I had a few quality issues with two of them — in fact, one had a hole in the armpit!
I submitted a ticket to their support help desk and I was promptly greeted with an automated response. Fairly typical these days, but it’s still nice to get quick feedback that they are aware of your issue. I’m doing some work with FuseDesk lately (awesome software by the way!), so customer service is always running through my mind. Ignored customers are NOT happy customers!
I received a quick reply email from one of their service reps saying:
“In order for me to process a refund for you, please reply to this email with the product numbers or a brief description of the designs on the items you would like refunded. I will process your request when I receive your reply. I look forward to your response.”
This of course seems pretty straight forward as well, but with a slight amazing twist: “or a brief description“. Trying to match up the product item # with the product was a total pain because the numbers were long and the descriptions on the receipt were vague. However, they made my life easy. I just described the two shirts that I wanted to return and I was done with it.
Customers Service Key #1 – Make Your Customer’s Job Easy!
The easier it is for the customer to interact with your customer service department, the happier they will be. After all, we are all just humans and want to be taken care of. Make our live a bit easier and we will love you for it!
After replying to the first email from my customer service rep, I received one that totally blew me away.
Dear Patrick,
Thank you for your reply! We want you to be 100% satisfied with your CaféPress.com experience.
I have processed a refund for you and you will receive an e-mail from Amazon confirming the refund amount and timeframe for the credit to be received (usually 5-10 days).
I know the items received are not up to your complete satisfaction but as our way of an apology please go ahead and keep them. There is no need for a return!
If there is anything else I can do for you, please let me know.
They don’t even want me to send it back? This is awesome! If you’ve been buying products online for the past few years, chances are that you’ve had to return something at least once. At best, this is usually just a small inconvenience, at worst it can be a nightmare. I already had the next steps running through my head before this email came… “Well now I’m going to need to find a box to put these in… Crap the printer is still out of ink, need to go to a friend’s house to print the return label… When am I going to have time to get to UPS or the post office?”
Customers Service Key #2 – “WOW” Your Customer!
That one single email changed my opinion of CafePress.com from a midly disgruntled customer with a lackluster purchasing experience, to that of a RAVING fan who will almost certainly be a repeat purchaser and spread the word to my network.
This is the kind of amazing customer service experience that has propelled companies like Zappos to incredible success.
What action steps can you take in your business to WOW your customers? Trust me, it will be worth it!
Customer service is something very few people pay attention to and customers only notice when it’s amazing or horrible. But when it comes to brand loyalty and growth you have to impress!
Customer service is something very few people pay attention to and customers only notice when it’s amazing or horrible. But when it comes to brand loyalty and growth you have to impress!
Thats a great experience you had! For me personally since I am still small enough business wise I initially have an automated e-mail message confirming I received the e-mail saying that their repeat business and opinions matter to me. Then I follow up with a personal e-mail later in the day. I know in a few months I wont be able to do this as my client base is growing exponentially so the example you gave really has me considering automating the process to accomodate my clients while striving to still attain superior customer service.
Thats a great experience you had! For me personally since I am still small enough business wise I initially have an automated e-mail message confirming I received the e-mail saying that their repeat business and opinions matter to me. Then I follow up with a personal e-mail later in the day. I know in a few months I wont be able to do this as my client base is growing exponentially so the example you gave really has me considering automating the process to accomodate my clients while striving to still attain superior customer service.